"Nothing Gold Can Stay"

In Casey Nelson’s novel, Nothing Gold Can Stay, we are introduced to Ray O’Brien, an American queerwolf in London. He is a gay (“I won’t tell, if you don’t ask”) drama teacher from Colorado, who, along with other exchange students, is enrolled in the Programme in British Theater Studies. Besides earning some doctoral credits, Ray looks forward to some man action in the bars and underground clubs.

Ray’s dream summer goes drastically awry when one his fellow students is murdered. Known as the “beautiful Boy”, Derrick is the victim of a savage sexual attack and murder in his room. The prime suspect is a serial killer labeled “Prince Bi” because he equally alternates his weekly killings between young males and women.

Ray is not so sure. He suspects that one of the American party may be guilty. He persuades his Argentine friend, the handsome Eduardo, to engage in some amateur sleuthing. Ray has a bit of a crush on Eduardo but hesitates to seduce him because the delectable Latin has a lover.

Eduardo feels strong erotic stirrings toward Ray but sublimates them by taking him to a sado-masochistic club and urging a brute to be his surrogate lover to Ray.

After this surprising interlude, Ray is disillusioned with Eduardo and his sadistic fetishes. He reluctantly considers a possible S & M scenario between Derrick and Eduardo getting out of hand.

Derrick is the “gold” referred to in the title, and, indeed we wish that he could have stayed a little longer. Not merely beautiful, Derrick is dynamic, spontaneous, humorous and perhaps the most intriguing character in the book and author Nelson makes us feel the loss that affects his teachers and classmates. There is no question that Nelson can create characters that seem real. Unfortunately, the narrative is bogged down by petty and backbiting “drama queen” dialogue which is reveled in by the less interesting surviving poseurs.

RECOMMENDED READING: Nothing Gold Can Stay a novel by Casey Nelson, published by Alyson Publications, 2000, ISBN 1-5583-492-2.

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